The Baler Capsized Boat Experience

I planned on not blogging about this frightening experience in Baler primarily because I don’t want to freak-out my mom who lives very away from me. But how can you not write about something which has nearly taken the lives of seven fun-loving individuals – the Survivor Seven as we call ourselves.

I have been to Baler late last year and having been bitten by its natural beauty, I found myself going there again and this time with a group of friends all from Nueva Ecija. We took the earliest van ride from Cabanatuan to Baler (fare is Php200 each).

The van took the Bongabon Route and that ride was an adventure in itself because the road there is mostly unpaved and bumpy. And when the van reached the mountainous Sierra Madre range, our van is literally threading within just few inches away from the cliffs. And just to prove the perplexity of the road, we have passed by a container van which fell-off the cliff as we approach the province of Aurora. And hey, did I mention that that we have to make a sudden stop in the middle of the mountainous road because of mechanical problems? Good thing that the few locals there are very accommodating that our lady friends were able to use their comfort rooms.

To make a long story short, we have reached Baler terminal in nearly five hours and we rode a tricycle to Sabang Beach to look for our accommodation. Our original plan was to stay at Bay’s Inn but ,as usual, the hotel was fully booked so we walked westbound to look for one. Bahia de Baler is also fully booked as well as some other budget surfer’s lodging house. Luckily, there was this two-storey lodging house, Kaheya’s Inn owned by an American married to a Balerian which we have gotten at a discount price of Php 2,400.

After resting a little, we had our lunch at a rolling store near the Municipal Plaza and that is where our group decided to go to Dicasalarin Cove. But how do we go there? The Cove can be reached either thru a road trip or a boat trip and both rides usually last about 45 minutes to an hour. We initially planned on hiring a van at the terminal but the tricycle drivers there said that we will not be allowed to pass by a gate that will lead us to the Cove because the land there is privately owned by the Angaras and they do not allow passersby if the Angaras were around. I was also informed beforehand that you need a permit to pass through Angara Property but since it was Saturday, we deemed not to proceed to the Tourism Office because it might be closed.

So we opted to do the boat ride. Lucky for us (?), our tricycle driver know someone who owns a boat that will lead us to Dicasalarin. After agreeing on a price, our tricycle drivers fetch us to Barangay Zabali. We then rode a mini-banca that brought us to the other side of the shore where our boat awaits.

Our boat is a mid-sized fisherman’s boat that can carry around ten persons. There were seven of us plus three boat crew (two were children). We asked for a lifevest but there is none. We have noticed that it is quite wavy but Mang Simo, the boat captain, assured us that the waves are pretty normal and we will be in Dicasalarin Cove in just an hour.

Albeit the sometimes mild and sometime rough splashing of the waves, the sailing seems to go smoothly and everything seems to fall according to plan… but then… as we pass by the middle of the gorgeous Aniao Islets, the motor suddenly stopped and the horror begins…